Fish I.D.

So last night I was asked to do the english portion of the scuba team's weekly presentation of our local fish. Gen usually does it by herself, but she saw my interest in fish ID and asked about 15 minutes before she was to do the presentation. I accepted and the presentation went well. About the usual length of time and people seemed to enjoy the added comments that I provided. Gen is about a foot shorter than I and so she stood on the stage(with heels on) and I stood next to her on the main floor(in flats) and we were the same height. We didn't get a picture, but I'm sure we'll do it again and have a picture or two taken. Check back.

Tropical Storm Fay

Well, we started to feel some effects of Tropical Storm Fay within the last few days. We have had a fair amount of rain in the past week as well as some winds and rougher seas. There are some waves crashing on the reef that I hadn't seen in my 2 1/2 months here which was the first real sign of what's to come. We had to change dive sites yesterday morning for the first dive because of the approx 6 foot waves that the capt. didn't want to tie the boat up in. The site was around the southern tip of the island and isn't protected, so we just came back around the end where there was significantly less wave action. From all the reports Fay is staying well to our west and won't have much impact. I see that the Florida Keys are preparing for Fay's arrival and in a way I'm glad I'm not working in the Keys this summer.

Attacked by a fish!!

So this morning on the dive boat I'm sitting on the stern with my feet hanging into the water... Paco, another instructor comes and sits down with his feet on the ladder. As he is eating his snack some of the crumbs from his bread falls into the water. Well, some fish came up and ate the crumbs... and well my feet must have looked yummy too because one of the fish bit my heel!! They were black durgon fish which look like this...
So I yelped and promptly pulled my feet out of the water while everyone on the boat laughs. Larissa, another instructor, tells me it must feel like a massage and thinks I'm over reacting. So I tell her to put her feet in the water which she proceeds to do. So the fish come up again and she yelps just like I did! Well, the fish got her on the side of her foot and she claims that it's more tender there than on the heel. So I tell her ok put just your heel in and lets see. Well, the fish came up again and got her heel and she yelped again! So the moral of the story is don't put your feet in the water when there is food around because black durgons don't have the greatest sense of what's food!!

New pictures...

So today is my day off for the week and it has been spent sleeping, eating, and swimming with brief periods of laying on the beach. Oh, laundry and a shower in there too. I've put up some more pictures on facebook which can be found at.... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051033&l=ab021&id=44801562

Also, a group of people that are all friends recently left and we collectively called them the Reef Police. Hats with the title were distributed to the scuba staff. The original couple that started it all have a website which they just updated with pictures from their trip. I made one of them. Check them out at http://www.reefpolice.com
Thanks to the Reef Police for the great times!! See you again soon!!

Flying Gurnard Sighting!

So, one of the divers that I was leading spotted a fish that he didn't know what it was and pointed it out to me. It was the first time I had ever seen it and found out that it is a flying gurnard. The pictures below are in the wings in position and wings out position which we saw. They have a set of sort of modified pelvic fins that they appear to "walk" on. They eat crustaceans and other small invertebrates.